Since I am firmly planted as a member of Gen X, I am a lover of almost all things ’80s — except the parachute pants, I can proudly say that I never owned a pair of those — and how much more ’80s can you get than Dirty Dancing?

That’s right, dear blog buddies, I went to see the 20th anniversary showing of Dirty Dancing tonight at my local theater with about 100 other women and maybe 10 men (who must have made their significant others sign a contract promising sexual favors after the movie). I swear there was so much estrogen in that room that I was surprised that every female who still gets her period didn’t start this month’s cycle right then and there in the theater.

I never got to see the movie when it was originally released in the theater. The first time I saw it was when I went on a church youth group trip to Daytona Beach. We spent the night with families from our minister’s former church, and two teenage daughters lived in the house where my friends and I spent the night. So we got to watch Dirty Dancing and two days later we were preaching the gospel to heathens at beachside resorts. And no, the irony is not lost on me — in fact, it makes me giggle quite a lot.

And to those of you who, like myself, had been nowhere near giving up their virginity the first time they saw the movie: when you saw the movie again after getting rid of the whole chastity thing, did you not see it in a totally different light? Was it just me or was that viewing after becoming more experienced suddenly like, “Yep… done that. That was fun.” And if you were single during that particular viewing, didn’t that just suck?

Ahem…

Back to this evening, I’ve never heard so many grown women giggle like 12-year-olds. During the first love scene, you would have thought we were a group of elementary school girls getting our first lesson in sex ed. During the scene where Patrick Swayze gets out of bed and you get the slightest glimpse of his bare hip, (I even heard a woman say 30 seconds before it happened, “Ooooh, this is where you see his butt!”) there were catcalls and whistles.

And there were cheers too. When Patrick Swayze delivers his famous line (say it with me), “Nobody puts baby in a corner,” we were saying it along with him and then clapping and cheering. I haven’t experienced that much bonding and camaraderie since going to see the re-release of the original Star Wars trilogy. It was totally awesome. Check your local theaters because there might be a showing tomorrow night. I highly recommend it to all the ’80s ladies. Maybe take a tampon with you, though, just in case.